What is a miracle? An event that appears to be contrary to the laws of nature and is regarded as an act of God. Also, another possibility is an event or action that is totally amazing, extraordinary, or unexpected…
The fact is we all somehow struggle with the idea of miracles. Perhaps, because, miracles are not logical and cannot be explained. Miracles just happen. More importantly, we all somehow and/or sometime in our life find ourselves in situations that we wish a little miracle (something extraordinary) would happen. We all somehow find ourselves struggling with the idea of miracles.
The Gospel of Mark is the smallest of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) with only 16 chapters yet with miracles portrayed in almost every single chapter.
Whatever the original intent might have been, reading the Gospel of Mark feels like watching an action movie on miracles. It is a breathtaking experience of one miracle after another.
It is in this action movie and breathtaking experience that we find Mark 9: 14-29. Starting in verse 1 of chapter 9, Mark tells us that Jesus took Peter, James, and John to a high mountain and revealed himself in a mindblowing event. Before their very eyes, Jesus transfigured into his resurrected body. He showed his body glorified. It was as if Jesus took Peter, James, and John to heaven without leaving the earth. In other words, the extraordinary broke into the ordinary – a miracle. As they came down from the extraordinary into the ordinary Mark 9: 14 – 29 happens.
Faith! Throughout the Gospels, whenever the word faith (pistis) appears in conjunction with a miracle (extraordinary), it appears in one of two circumstances. Either it is in the circumstance in which a miracle (supernatural) happens and that triggers faith in an individual (group) or faith is basically the pre-requisite to see a miracle (extraordinary) happens.
The situation of faith in this first part of Mark 9: 14 – 29 is the pre-requisite to see a miracle happen. Actually, if we read this story too fast, we can quickly conclude that Jesus was coldly asking everyone involved to make the effort to have more faith. We can quickly come to conclude that Jesus didn’t have any consideration for the other disciples who stayed down in the valley while He, Peter, James, and John were having a good time on the mountain. I mean, we can quickly think that Jesus should have a little more consideration for the disciples who were dealing with the heavy duty stuff of ministry while Peter, James, and John were having a spiritual retreat.
“You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me” (v. 19).
If we read this passage too quickly we can conclude that Jesus was heartless and lost his temper. Or, perhaps, Jesus was preparing all of them to learn a crucial lesson about miracles and, most importantly, faith. In fact, it is a lesson that the boy’s father seemed to have learned right away when he said, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief” (v. 24).
The boy’s father finds himself in a situation that many of us can relate to. Have you ever been in one of those situations in which you struggle with something for a long period of time? What happened after awhile? Usually, we lose focus. Right? After awhile, we feel crushed and burned out. We feel consumed by the situation day and night. That is probably how the boy’s father felt. Worst of all in this situation is that people probably surrounded him (us) saying things like, “You must have more…Faith.”
Perhaps, the boy’s father was initially trying harder to have more faith when Jesus asked if he believed. He was probably trying harder until…Until he looked at Jesus and realized that Jesus was not asking him (others) to try harder. On the contrary, Jesus was teaching him (them) the simple yet difficult lesson of surrender. The simple yet difficult lesson of understanding he (we) did not have faith. Because faith is a gift from God and all we have to do is to humble ourselves, surrender, and ask, “I do believe but help me overcome my unbelief” (v. 24).
The story ends with the disciples focusing on logically trying to figure out what went wrong with the faith they thought they had. The story ends with the disciples focusing on trying to figure out what went wrong with their strategy to set the boy free. It ends with the disciples trying harder to have faith instead of running to Jesus, looking at him, surrendering, and asking, “Help me to overcome my unbelief.”
